Which is better: the one who is patient in the face of calamity, or the one who is grateful for the blessing?

Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, he says: Which is better, a person who is struck by a calamity and is patient, or a person who is granted a blessing and is grateful?

Answer:
This is a matter of scholarly disagreement among the scholars: is the grateful rich person better, or the patient poor person? This disagreement is mentioned by Ibn al-Qayyim in a book of his called *Al-‘Idat al-Sabirin* (The Provisions of the Patient). He held that the best of them is the one most mindful of Allah the Exalted; the best of the two is the one most mindful of Allah. Yes.